204 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



of the shock was exerted in the direction of the 

 lines of stratification. 



Mr. Webster, in describing the shivered Hints in 

 the chalk at Handfast-point, on the Dorsetshire 

 coast, remarks that the nodules are not only much 

 shattered, bu1 appear as if they had been re- 

 duced to atoms while the rock was yet in a soft 

 state, for the fragments are in general separated 

 from each other, with chalk between them ; and 

 the broken pieces of flint are at such distances, 

 that it is impossible to conceive by what means 

 they could have been so far separated, had the 

 chalk been solid at the moment of their fracture. 

 The bent condition of the strata at Handfast-point, 

 which will be described in a future page, attests 

 the plastic state of the chalk at the period when 

 its upheaval took place. 



The Chalk downs. — We now leave the sea- 

 shore to ascend the hill, and proceed along- the foot 

 of Alton Down to Compton Bay, which is about 

 a mile distant. The western part of the central 

 range of downs extends from the Needles Cliff to 

 Motteston Down, which is 700 feet high, and 

 is a narrow ridge nine miles in length, with 

 steep declivities on each side; that on the north 

 arises from the highly-inclined dip of the strata; 

 thai on ih. south is produced by the precipitous 



